The 2023 Liga Panameña de Fútbol or 2023 Liga LPF (known as the Liga LPF Tigo for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th season of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol (LPF), the top-flight football league in Panama, and the fourth under the management of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol. The season began on 13 January 2023, when the Apertura tournament started, and ended on 12 November 2023 with the Clausura tournament Final.
Competition format Same as previous years, the season was divided into two championships: Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura. Both Apertura and Clausura were played under the same format which consisted in a Classification stage, where the 12 teams were geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences (6 teams per conference); Play-offs, Semifinals and Final.
Within each conference, teams played each other twice on a double round-robin format (home and away). In addition, each team played one game against all the 6 teams in the opposite conference for a total of 16 games per team in the classification stage. Winners of each conference qualified directly to the semi-finals, whilst the second and third placed teams advanced to the play-offs stage.
The Play-offs stage was played on a single-leg format between the second placed team of each conference against the third placed team of the opposite conference, with the second placed teams hosting the matches. Winners of play-offs advanced to semi-finals to play against the first placed team of each conference on a home-and-away two-legged basis. Winners of the semifinals played the final on a single-leg match at a venue and date determined by the LFP, with highest team ranked in the classification stage acting as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
Teams
A total of 12 teams took part in this season; the top eleven teams from the aggregate table of the 2022 season as well as UMECIT, who were promoted from the 2022 Liga Prom after being champions of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments of the 2022 Liga Prom season. They replaced and took the place in the Western Conference of Veraguas United, the bottom team in the aggregate table of the 2022 season, who were relegated to Liga Prom.
Stadia and locations Team City Stadium CapacityEastern ConferenceAlianzaPanama CityJavier Cruz 700Árabe UnidoColónArmando Dely Valdés 4,000Plaza AmadorPanama CityRommel Fernandez 32,000Javier Cruz 700Potros del EstePanama CityJavier Cruz 700Sporting San MiguelitoSan MiguelitoLos Andes 1,450TauroPanama CityRommel Fernandez 32,000Western ConferenceAtlético ChiriquíDavidSan Cristóbal 2,890IndependienteLa ChorreraAgustín Sánchez 3,040HerreraChitréLos Milagros 1,000San FranciscoLa ChorreraAgustín Sánchez 3,040UMECITAtalayaAtalaya 500UniversitarioPenonoméUniversidad Latina 3,500
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor(s) Alianza Jair Palacios Kevin Melgar Keuka ShowTime, Clinilab Panamá Árabe Unido Alberto Valencia Harold Cummings Kelme Kendall Motor Oil, AguAseo Atlético Chiriquí Herney Duque Miguel Saavedra Transporte Rivera Hermanos S.A., Hotel Ciudad de David Herrera Miguel Corral Juan González Adidas Varela Hermanos S.A., Betcris Independiente Franklin Narváez Rafael Águila Everlast Altos De La Pradera, Eco Moda, Powerade Plaza Amador Ameth de León Ricardo Buitrago Puma Sportium, SPARK Potros del Este Ángel Sánchez Edgar Góndola Luanvi Bridgestone San Francisco Gary Stempel Francisco Palacios Valor TicketMore Sporting San Miguelito David Dóniga Pedro Jeanine Spirits Sparkle Power S.A. Tauro Felipe Baloy Jan Carlos Vargas Patrick Terpel, Universidad del Istmo, KFC Universitario Julio Infante Manuel Torres Sheffy Latin University of Panama, Learding Vila, Banco LAFISE UMECIT Javier Torres (interim) Jacinto Fuentes Adidas UMECIT
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaPlaza Amador Jorge Dely ValdésResigned31 October 2022Pre-season Saúl Maldonado2 December 2022Herrera Alberto ValenciaMutual agreementDecember 2022 Miguel Corral21 December 2022Plaza Amador Saúl MaldonadoResigned16 April 20236th, Ameth de León17 April 2023Tauro Francisco PerloSacked23 April 20234th, Diego Gutierre23 April 2023Atlético Chiriquí Dayron PérezResigned29 April 20236th, Jonathan ParraJuly 2023UMECIT Fredy RomeroMutual agreement30 April 20234th, Francisco Perlo15 May 2023Potros del Este Daniel BlancoEnd of contract9 May 20234th, Ángel Sánchez1 June 2023Torneo ClausuraTauro Diego GutierreEnd of caretaker spell27 May 2023Pre-tournament Felipe Baloy11 June 2023Sporting San Miguelito Felipe BorowskySacked31 May 2023 David Dóniga12 June 2023Árabe Unido Julio Dely ValdésResigned15 August 20236th, Alberto Valencia16 August 2023Atlético Chiriquí Jonathan ParraResigned11 September 20236th, Herney DuqueSeptember 2023UMECIT Francisco PerloMutual agreement12 September 20235th, Javier Torres12 September 2023 Notes
Torneo Apertura The Torneo Apertura began on 13 January and ended on 27 May with the final. Independiente were the defending champions, having won the Clausura 2022 tournament at the previous season.
Classification phase The classification phase of the Apertura tournament ran from 13 January to 29 April 2023.
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Results The match schedule was announced on 9 January 2023.
Bracket The play-offs, semi-finals and final were scheduled to be played between 6 and 27 May 2023.
Play-offs
Semi-finals
Tauro won 4–2 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
Independiente won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
Final
Top goalscorers Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. The list includes goals scored in play-offs, semi-finals and final. Rank Player Club Goals1 Ronaldo CórdobaHerrera162 Breidy GolúzTauro83 Alessandro CanalesPotros del Este6 José MurilloPlaza Amador5 Ronaldo DinolisPlaza Amador5 Darwin PinzónUMECIT Carlos SmallIndependiente César YanisPotros del Este9 Rafael ÁguilaIndependiente4 Víctor ÁvilaIndependiente Omar BrowneTauro Valentín PimentelSporting San Miguelito Miguel SaavedraAtlético Chiriquí Jorge SerranoIndependiente Anthony StewartIndependiente
Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 aggregate table The aggregate table of the Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments was used to determine the Panamanian teams qualified for the 2023 CONCACAF Central American Cup. As Independiente were the champions in both Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments, the remaining two qualified teams were the next two better placed teams in the aggregate table.
Torneo Clausura The Torneo Clausura began on 21 July and ended on 2 December with the final. Independiente were the two-time defending champions, having won the previous Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments.
Classification phase The classification phase of the Clausura tournament ran from 21 July to 7 November 2023 (originally 1 November 2023).
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Results The match schedule was announced on 10 July 2023.
Bracket The play-offs, semi-finals and final were originally scheduled to be played between 11 November and 1 December, however, the dates were pushed back in order to facilitate the call-up of players from the Liga Panameña de Fútbol to the Panama national football team during the November FIFA window.
Play-offs
Semi-finals
Tauro won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
Independiente won 4–3 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
Final The final was scheduled to be played on 9 December 2023 at Estadio Universidad Latina in Penonomé. The team with the best performance in the classification phase (Independiente) acted as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
Top goalscorers Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. The list includes goals scored in play-offs, semi-finals and final. Rank Player Club Goals1 Víctor ÁvilaIndependiente122 Carlos SmallIndependiente113 Rolando BlackburnTauro94 Ronni VillarrealHerrera85 Breidy GolúzTauro6 Juan GonzálezHerrera Valentín PimentelSporting San Miguelito8 Ricardo ÁvilaUniversitario5 Ronaldo DinolisPlaza Amador Ansony FríasÁrabe Unido Ovidio LópezPlaza Amador Kevin MenesesIndependiente Darwin PinzónUMECIT Richard RodríguezAlianza Alberto SaldañaAtlético Chiriquí Gabriel TorresSporting San Miguelito
Aggregate table The aggregate table of the 2023 season was used to determine the team relegated to the 2024 Liga Prom.
References
External links